Government Operations Committee on March 12th, 2020

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you for the question again.

What we're doing is prioritizing the commodities that will have the greatest overall impact in reducing GHGs—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

The question is this. You're coming to committee for cash, but you're not stating a target. Why are we not setting targets for this money?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

I will intervene, if I may now, in the interests of time.

Madam Minister, you have been asked the question. I know it may be somewhat difficult to do in the allotted time you have before us, but I would ask that you provide to this committee through the clerk some sort of answer to Mr. McCauley's question at your earliest opportunity.

With that, we will move on to Mr. Weiler, for six minutes please.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the minister and the army of witnesses who are coming to speak to our committee today.

One thing you mentioned in your statement, which you have provided to us, is work that's ongoing for the greening of government operations. I was hoping you could speak a little bit.... You provided some examples, in Toronto and Vancouver, but you have a plan to have, by 2022, all government buildings powered by clean electricity.

I was hoping you could speak a little more to how the ministry is going to accomplish this.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you very much for the question.

As I wanted to say in my opening remarks, it's very important to realize that our government is committed to a sustainable environment and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. How that plays out in PSPC is very important.

As you know, we are in charge of a large component of real estate. We're developing a strategy to power federal buildings with 100% clean electricity, where available, by 2022. We're modernizing the energy system that serves government buildings in the national capital region as well, which is outside of the buildings I visited in Toronto that I mentioned in my opening statement.

What else are we doing? We are investing in major retrofits to federal buildings that will contribute to low-carbon operations. As the ministry in charge of the government's fleet, we are working to replace vehicles in that fleet with green alternatives, such as electric and hybrid vehicles. We are putting in place the infrastructure that is needed when you have a fleet that is operating on a hybrid basis.

You can see that in the portfolio, across government, we are taking this very seriously.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

As a follow up to that, you also mentioned in the statement here that where clean electricity is not yet available, we are encouraging that industry.

Could you speak a little about how the government is going to be encouraging that industry?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As you know, we come into contact with contractors on a daily basis, essentially, when we are dealing with the federal real property portfolio. It is very much a central component of our negotiations in discussions with our contractors.

I'll ask my deputy minister if he'd like to speak to this point.

[Bill Matthews]

Thank you, Minister and Mr. Chair.

I have just a quick addition to this. Obviously, to power federal buildings with clean electricity you have to have a clean grid. The federal government is a large consumer because of the footprint we have from a real property perspective. If the federal government is able to indicate to partners such as provinces that we want to buy clean electricity and talk about incentives from a market perspective, we're a big player in that market. It's an incentive base.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

I'm going to switch gears a little here.

Could you provide an update on the national shipbuilding strategy? In particular, how much has been spent to date and how many jobs have been created so far?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you so much.

I was trying to intervene earlier regarding our NSS because it is such an important component of our overall operations relating to our procurements. This strategy contributes $1.2 billion annually to the economy and over 12,000 jobs per year.

I've had the opportunity to visit both the VSY and the Irving shipyard on each of our coasts and I have spoken with our management teams out there. Through a fully costed and funded plan and the successful management of the NSS, we are delivering for Canadians.

It's an honour, really, to see the importance of that NSS strategy taking shape with the delivery of various ships, especially on the west coast where I know you're from.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

I was hoping you could speak a little more to the work specifically taking place at Seaspan.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As you know, Seaspan is central to what's happening out there on the west coast.

We have delivered the first two offshore fishery science vessels to the Canadian Coast Guard with the delivery of the third vessel expected this summer. In addition, four Arctic and offshore patrol ships are under construction, with the first being delivered to the navy early this year. Build work is under way for the JSS, which is the joint support ship. Design work on the Canadian surface combatant is progressing.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

I know you and your team have been working hard on defence procurement. I was hoping you could give us just a general overview of some of the equipment we're going to be providing to our defence agencies.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you so much for asking that question. Our record on defence procurement is extensive.

We have a fully costed defence policy in place. We have the launch of a future fighter jet procurement for 88 modern fighters. We have the delivery of the first interim jets, the first fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft and the first large vessels in the water designed and built under the NSS, as I've mentioned. We have the testing of the first Arctic patrol ship for the navy expected to take delivery this spring.

I have others on my list, but in the interest of time I will let you ask any follow-ups you might have.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Unfortunately, we just don't have time for a follow-up, but I appreciate the economy of your words.

Madame Vignola, you have six minutes, please.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank you all for being here today. We sincerely appreciate it.

I would like to come back to the supplementary estimates.

You are requesting $8.1 million for accommodation space. This year efforts to resolve Phoenix pay issues were successful in 98% of cases. Last year, around $8 million was also requested for accommodations, and in that case, it was specified that given the issues with Phoenix and retroactive pension payments, more staff was needed.

Why is this $8-million amount needed again this year, when it was decided to keep these new employees, who account for the 98% success rate in retroactive pay cases?

Why isn't this $8 million in the Main Estimates, since this has become ongoing?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you very much.

I will answer in English.

The $8.1 million is for accommodation costs for employees who provide these pension services. It's funding for accommodation relating to the administration of the pension system, largely due to the increase in personnel capacity that resulted from our desire to eliminate the backlog in the Phoenix pay system.

I'll ask my deputy in case he has something further to add.

[Bill Matthews]

I would like to add one more thing. In fact, it was really a way of establishing the real costs of administering the benefits.

For our accommodation services related to pension, we recover that from the pension fund. This is really just bookkeeping to make sure that the pension fund is properly charged the full cost in terms of what is required to administer it.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I understand that there have been more staff increases and that they account for the $8.1 million. Now that that has stabilized, there will be no further requests for supplementary funds, since we are now able to plan.

Is that correct?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Let me begin, and I'll ask Bill if he wants to clarify what he said.

We have rebuilt the capacity to over 2,000 compensation advisers, and why that is important is that we have to stabilize the Phoenix pay system and eliminate the backlog. It's my top priority, and I wanted to say so in my opening statement. This is part of that process to ensure that we can meet the goal of eliminating the backlog in the Phoenix pay system.

Bill.

[Bill Matthews]

That amount is allocated to the administration of the pension plan, not to Phoenix. That's different.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

[Bill Matthews]

In fact, we do that every year, in order to outline the real costs associated with the administration of the pension plan, after we do a financial audit of the actual costs.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Maybe I just have the wrong idea of what a budget should be. Since the cost of administering the pension services should not vary all that much from year to year, I still have the same question. Why can't we plan for these services in advance so that we can include them in the Main Estimates?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I was just elected in October, and I've come to this portfolio as of November 20, so some of these changes in budgetary requirements and adjustments, as Bill suggests, are preceding my time as minister.

I will say that they are, from my understanding, largely adjustments based on our development of the program, based on our desire, and my personal desire, to ensure that we can move forward as quickly as possible in eliminating the backlog.

Bill.